Nine Great Emergency Light Sources Other Than Flashlights

This post is day 9 of the 30 Days of Preparedness! See the end of the post for the other 29 days!

So the lights go out and you feel around to get the flashlight that you had stashed in its secure location on top of the refrigerator (stepping on somebody’s blocks and toy soldiers in the dark on the way) and to your horror you find that your handy flashlight isn’t there! Someone used it and didn’t put it back. So you stumble through your house to your bathroom and find the flashlight you keep there with dead batteries. Yep, this actually happened at my house once.

Fortunately, I believe in having a backup plan, and usually a backup to that backup plan, so what else can you use to get some light in your house while the power is out? Here are 9 great emergency light sources when you’re not using your trusty flashlight. And for the purpose of this post, I’m excluding everything that works like a flashlight (headlamp, keychain lights, crank/shake powered flashlights, etc.).

1. Any backlit electronic device you have handy. Your cell phone, laptop, tablet computer, mp3 player, even an indiglo wristwatch will give off enough light to get you to another light source. There are cell phones equipped with a flashlight, or you can add a flashlight app to your smartphone, but if you don’t have either of those, just the glowing face still gets you a good amount of light to go by.

2. Lighter. Your lighter isn’t going to put out enough light to eat dinner by, but it can get you enough light to find another source of light. This is the first of a few of our light sources that are an open flame. Of course use caution and don’t use the open flame lights if there’s a possibility your gas line is leaking, if you’re going to fall asleep, or around other flammable objects. You all know that, right? Okay, on with the list.

3. Candles. Keep a few somewhere you’ll be able to get to them fairly easily. Don’t bury your box of candles out in the shed under a bunch of other boxes. Keep some in the house ready to be lit for emergency light.

4. Fire. This works outside of course, but if you have a fireplace or wood/coal stove in your house, you can use it to get some light going. And a good fire will also give you heat which you may be needing with no power.

5. Light sticks. These are great for the kids for a morale boost. They put out a fair amount of light, but are a one time use product, so you’ll want a handful of them on hand if you’re planning on using them frequently or for much light. Or try the reusable glow sticks from UVPaqlite. Not quite as bright, but can be charged over and over just by exposing them to another light source (including sunlight).

6. Gas stove. The flame from a gas stove isn’t very “bright”–it burns mostly blue flame, and it’s not at all portable, but it is a source of light.

7. Oil lamps. You can use these with lamp oil, cooking oil, or kerosene. Oil lamps can be purchased at camping type stores or online, or if you’re crafty you can make your own.

8. Solar lights. Check out the D.Light line for some inexpensive, durable options. Or use those solar outdoor path lights. The kind on a stick that light up your walk at night. These are awesome. They come in varying strengths, and they don’t require any fuel or batteries–just put them outside during the day and bring them in at night for some easy lighting. You probably already own some.

9. Camping lantern. These are the lanterns that use Coleman type fuel either in a pressurized tank or in the screw on bottles. They put out a lot of light. Make sure you have fuel and extra mantles if your lamp requires them. There are camping lanterns that are battery powered as well. These lanterns are great for lighting entire rooms.

There you go. No reason to go about living in the dark even if all your flashlight batteries are dead. Enjoy some light with one of these alternate emergency lighting sources.

Thanks for joining the Prepared Bloggers as we work our way through 30 Days of Preparedness. September is National Preparedness Month so you will find everything you need to get your preparedness knowledge and skills into shape.

Take one post each day, learn as much as you can about the topic and make it a part of your preparedness plan.

I forgot about a camera–most of them have backlit screens as well. The flash would work and I have actually used the red “red eye reduction” light that comes on before you take the picture by holding the photo button down half way before. Those put out a good amount of light if you’re in the dark, it’s just red. As always, thanks for your comment! :)

The number one way that people die in complications related to natural disasters is from using lighters after a natural gas line has broken. Big Kaboom. Lots of dead people. Be careful when using a lighter instead of a flashlight. The same is true for stoves.

Two Other Great Lights are , Paqlite which works like the old glow in the dark stuff from the 70’s but is much brighter and lasts all night But you have to give it some light for it to absorb, But better than that is the whole Goal 0 line, in my room I have thier escape batt. pluged in keeping it topped off, when the power is off I can still run my CPAP on it, as well as plug in up to 5 of thier Light-a-life lanters ,Chaining them up to 50 ft through my house , and at sun up Recharge it with my 27 watt solar panal also by Goal 0

Go to the dollar store and pick up Book reading lights. They are cheap and give off a great amount of light you can clip them to you cloths and just about anything. we use these when we are camping. also have them in my go bag just in case.

Dont forget that camping lights can put of carbonmonixide so only use in a well ventilated area.
I have lots of glow stick and the bracelts/necklaces which are great to see where the kids are.
I have 2 flashlights that are completely hidden from the kids, cant even begin to count how many they have lost.
Cell phones work great in a pinch and I always have a lighter on hand. I also keep candles around the house. Another thing about candles is they do put out a small amount of heat, it may not be as good as a fire but sometimes every bit helps.